The name is absent

140

Vasilo has a third son to whom I referred only briefly in my MA. This individual,
who I will call Christos, is about 18 years old. Vasilo gave birth to him while she was
living in the Zefiri neighborhood outside Athens; a dangerous part of town the
mainstream Greek population tries to avoid. The residents of Zefiri are mostly Romani,
but there are also some Greeks, Albanians, and Middle Easterners; almost all of them are
very poor with the exception of a few suspiciously wealthy families. These latter
families typically own legitimate businesses like stores and garages, but according to my
contacts in the area, may also be involved in other more nefarious activities. Christos
was bom in one of the larger Roma camps at Zefiri and grew up playing in its dirt and
gravel spaces. When he became older Christos refused to go to school; instead he spent
his time roaming the streets of Zefiri testing personal and social boundaries and making
trouble. It is during this time and within these spaces that Christos made his life-long
friends and gained several blood brothers. It is also within these spaces that Christos
became involved with drug trafficking. Vasilo doesn’t like to talk about this part of
Christos’ life as it coincided with her husband’s alcohol-related death, but she does admit
knowing that her young son was becoming involved with dangerous people and was
beginning to pursue dangerous means of making money. Due to this, and in an attempt to
make a new start, Vasilo uprooted the family and moved to Halandri hoping to give her
children a better life. For the majority of them, she did. Christos, however, could not
escape the underground world he had entered. While Vasilo ran around Athens seeking
medical help for her two younger boys, and while she looked after her daughters as they
met husbands and got pregnant, Christos continued to travel back to Zefiri, continued to
use and sell drugs, and continued to get into trouble with the police.

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